Apple Car can be a success without wow factor | AppleInsider

The future of Apple CarPlay.

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It’s easy to let our imaginations run wild with speculations about what “Project Titan” might be, but it really only needs to incorporate most of Apple’s current technologies for it to be a success. Tesla has shown that people are ready to go electric for the right combination of performance, technology and price.

As long as Apple keeps the price of each vehicle below $100,000 (perhaps closer to $50,000) and pushes convenience of driving and maintenance as key selling points, the company has a chance to make a serious dent in the auto market.

Being able to track your car, remotely view its cameras, set speed limits and even move it, all from its mobile app are features Tesla owners already enjoy. Apple could match those capabilities and make owning a car even less of a pain by adding features it already has in its product line.

Let’s take a look at all the hardware and software currently on the table and see how these things make what Apple could offer to make most other vehicles on the road seem antiquated.

Siri will be an important feature of any car Apple designs, whether or not it’s the centerpiece. Surprisingly, there are still no good voice assistants in cars in 2022. Even in a Tesla, voice commands seem rudimentary.

Relying on Siri while traveling at 70 miles per hour might not inspire much confidence, but we’re willing to bet it works better than most other options on the market right now.

Our hope is that Siri can handle all car-related tasks: roll down the windows; close the trunk; raise the third row of seats; turn off the heated seat in 10 minutes, and so on. You shouldn’t need to use Siri to do all of these things, but it would be nice if you could.

Apple has already unveiled its future plans for CarPlay. In the demo, the functionality extended beyond the infotainment unit and extended into the dashboard screens. He even replaced all the gauges.

Clearly Apple is building this new version of CarPlay for itself. However, the company said that other manufacturers can adopt it and adapt it to their needs.

No one should be surprised when Apple’s car interior looks like some form of that initial design slated for 2023.

Whether it will perform well on the road is anyone’s guess, but the controls and various information widgets all looked good.

Unlocking your future Apple Car with your iPhone is a no-brainer. Tesla has been doing this on a large scale since at least 2017. The Bluetooth method that Tesla uses for its cars works well, but connecting digital keys in the same household can be annoying.

Apple’s CarKey should make it easier to use and share digital keys. CarKey is still in its infancy and is mostly used with BMW cars, but the similar Home Key technology gives us a taste of the in-car experience.

Five years ago, Apple Maps was a joke. Today is pretty good. It’s certainly worthy of being proudly displayed on a big screen in a car.

Lately, with new 3D buildings and routing features, it looks like Apple is continuing to refine the mapping experience for much better navigation. Maps can even plan a route with electric vehicle charging in mind.

HomeKit may not seem connected to a car, at first, but Vehicle Charging can be integrated into the Home app to manage a vehicle’s connection to your power grid.

Likewise, it may be possible to display Apple car camera alerts on your Apple TV while you watch, if the vehicle detects a threat or tampering.

At one point, Apple’s car was supposed to be fully self-driving, even going so far as not to include a steering wheel. It seemed silly at the time and apparently it no longer does.

The latest information suggests that Apple’s vehicle will be able to perform self-driving similar to some other manufacturers and primarily on highways.

Frankly, we don’t think this piece of the puzzle is completely necessary to wow consumers.

More important is how Apple combines all of its current technologies to create a seamless and cohesive driving experience. Similarly, it’s easy to imagine an Apple VR headset before it’s released, because all the parts are already there (spatial audio, avatars, collaborative media, etc.).

Even more concretely, the AirPods Max demonstrate how Apple did not need to revolutionize a market to enter it and make a dent in it. The company just needed to bring its hardware and software components together to create something worthy of a premium price tag.